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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 10

Industry & Empire

Factories, railroads and the age of empires

What your child practices

The Industrial Revolution (steam power, factories, railroads, cities and labor unions) and the age of imperialism that followed: why industrial nations sought colonies, how empires divided Africa and Asia, how colonized peoples were harmed and resisted, and how many colonies won independence.

Arizona Academic Standards learning standard: 7.H1.2; 7.H3.2; 7.G3.1 · how technology changed the world, the causes and effects of imperialism, and how people and goods moved

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Steam power, factories and mass production changed work; railroads and the telegraph linked places.
  2. Factory workers faced long hours and danger, so they formed unions.
  3. Industrial nations took colonies for resources and markets. Colonized peoples resisted, like Gandhi’s nonviolent protest in India.

Example: What is mass production? Factories use machines. They make many identical products quickly. Answer: making many identical products with machines in a factory

Industry & Empire in Arizona

In the Arizona Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 10 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Age of Revolutions and before World War I.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Arizona Department of Education

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Many colonies won independence after…

    • the Renaissance
    • the Stone Age
    • World War II

  2. Question 2

    Nationalism means…

    • rule by a king only
    • trade without borders
    • strong pride in and loyalty to one's nation

  3. Question 3

    A land ruled by a distant country is a…

    • colony
    • union
    • republic

  4. Question 4

    Which fuel powered most early factories and steam trains?

    • coal
    • uranium
    • solar power

  5. Question 5

    When a powerful country takes control of other lands and peoples, it is called…

    • democracy
    • imperialism
    • isolation

  6. Question 6

    At the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, European leaders…

    • freed every colony
    • divided Africa among themselves
    • ended the slave trade in Asia

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